MODESTY EQUALS BALANCE

There are some groups of people who believe they have the only revelation to what is modest and what is not and everyone who does  not adhere to their set rules of outer wear are lost, backslidden, and doomed for eternal punishment. I will not say what or who those groups of people are but many of us already know. So, in a word, in order for us to understand modesty, we must go to the scriptures to see what God has to say to us about the way we should look. First of all, modesty is extremely important to God, although many people might not think that it is. However, much of God's word does not blatantly come right out and say "you cannot wear this or that", but it's left up to the individual to let the Holy Ghost lead and guide him or her on how to present themselves in worship services and the general public. My mind is racing now and I'm trying to get this in as it is after midnight but I have been doing some in-depth study about Christian apparel for several months and I have pretty much discovered the same things on both extremes. Group #1-Those who believe it is an abomination for a woman to wear "female" pants, make up, and jewelry and Group #2 those who believe that women can wear "female" pants, make up, and jewelry in moderation as long as she is not doing so to a degree to incite lust in male counterparts or draw attention to herself. As for group #1, I personally walked in those shoes because of being under a pastor who forced it on the women in the congregation, and because I was taught it was right, biblical, and unchanging, I abided by the rules but deep in my heart, I did not believe neither was I convicted by the Holy Ghost that wearing these things were sinful. However, it was always taught that whatever your pastor teaches, you have to abide by it whether you like it or agree with it or not. I did that up until I changed churches and my new pastor taught with a bit more understanding, love, and gave the Holy Spirit in my life a chance to work to show me what was offensive and what was not. After changing my wardrobe from strictly skirts and dresses down to my ankles and buying some nice earrings and some light colored make up, I felt pretty doggone good about myself. I mean I felt girlish, stylish, and up-to-date. And unless you have seen people dressed like they have no clue of what century we are in, then you know what I mean when I say "up-to-date". But anyway, my female pants were not tight but loose with a long button-up shirt to cover the main parts that it has always been taught that pants reveal (the booty and the split between the legs). My point is there is a way that a Christian woman to wear pants that is a garment made for her and not the kind made for a man (Deut. 22:5) and still be modest, unrevealing, and not looking worldly. Maybe my brain is wired differently but why am I the only one who can see this and other people in my faith and also the hundreds of Youtubers who make videos and other website bloggers, who bash Christian women for wearing "her" pants. The only thing I keep hearing and reading is that pants on women are not feminine and that God hates it? But I heard through the grapevine, that some of the people from Group #1 wear female pants underneath their dresses during cold, cold weather. Hmmm!!! Isn't the same God who sees the pants on a woman worn as her garment outwardly, watching when a woman wears them privately? See, the thing about a bunch of additional rules that are not laid out in scripture but made by man's doctrine and tradition, puts people in a category of being a hypocrite. My blog is not for Christian women who do not wear pants to start wearing them, neither is it for Christian women who wear pants to stop wearing them but I'm only trying to make a point that they can be worn with a long shirt or trench coat or something that covers the private area that most men like to see whether a woman has on pants, a dress, or a skirt. Men advertently look at women's bodies and are generally attracted to curves and in a lot of cases, where a female is built right, it does not matter how big she buys her clothes, her figure and form is somewhat noticeable. On that note, men also get attracted to other things about women besides her shape. Just let me point out that men appreciates modesty in a woman because he feels he can trust her (especially if he is seeking a godly wife) and it also gives him confidence that if a relationship was to surface, she would give him his legal and lawful right to be the head. There are some women who want to dominate and be in control of everything and everybody and that attitude shows up in the way she dresses. I personally believe that a woman should look and act like a woman. There should be not any lesbian/bisexual projections in apparel, hairstyle, tone of voice, mannerisms, and none of that kind of stuff in a true godly, holiness woman. At the same token, a real godly woman desires to be feminine and stay in her female role because she knows it brings honor to her husband (jf she is married) and to her Lord. Single women and those in unhappy marriages do struggle with modesty and it might not be just a thing of trying to attract a man but women want to feel cherished, loved, respected, and nurtured. So where there is a single woman who is seeking the Lord for a husband, have been praying for years (sometimes decades), and is burned out on being the bridesmaid instead of the bride, if she does not have a good support system, then her struggle of loneliness, depression, and growing weary of patiently waiting has the possibility to show up in her "need a man" attire. On the flip side, women in unhappy marriages, particularly Christian women married to unsaved men have a struggle that women married to saved men know nothing about unless they won the victory in winning their unsaved spouse at one time over to the Lord. But in many cases unequally yoked marriages tend to stay that way until there is a death or divorce. Even though there have been a lot of successful women who stayed there and waited until their husband came in to the Lord. But for the most part, a saved woman married to an unsaved man has many battles to fight and those battles will often show up in her appearance. For number one women with unsaved husbands look like single women to ungodly and even godly men. And these men WILL try to hit on her even when she is dressed modestly because to them she appears to be single. I don't know how that works but even when a woman married to an unsaved man wears her wedding band, she still looks vulnerable and special to unmarried men (especially if the husband never goes to church with his wife). There is something about a saved man being his wife's covering and when he is unsaved, she is pretty much uncovered and therefore, the men who are wild on the hunt might mistake her for being single because she does not have the glory of covering from her husband like a saved woman with a saved man does. Unsaved husbands are generally very cruel and disrespectful to their saved wives and if she stays there for many years and tolerate that kind of behavior and verbal abuse, then there will eventually be a breakdown in standards because there has been a breakdown in self esteem and confidence in what she has been believing God for. Women who have suffered at the hands and mouths of unsaved husbands might rebel against the teaching from Group #1 by applying makeup to hide bruises or put on jewelry to make herself feel nice, sweet, and loved since she has been called everything but a child of God by her spouse. Women with unsaved husbands try their best not to wear their situation outside their house but try to look decent even when they don't feel it. But that is something that people from Group #1 don't understand because they think that beauty is only from within. On another note, Christian women who have husbands that were once saved but backslid might go through challenges in maintaining modesty. Just like the other Christian women who has a husband that has never been saved, the wife whose husband backslides makes her in a marriage that is unequally yoked and her appearance might change from how it used to be when she was married to a godly man. The main point is bringing out a lot things that a lot of Youtubers and different bloggers leave out on their videos and websites. They mainly teach and preach modesty, discretion, and respect and I agree with all that but if we see a Christian not doing that then we got to find out what is the underlying causes for the change if they have gone from highly respectable to totally destestable. But on a real note, many of us changed how we dressed because we just absolutely did not believe in all the legalistic doctrines. I will say that there is a balance between being plain and ghost-looking and looking like a harlot. That is why the topic is Modesty equals Balance, meaning God permits us to wear nice, clean clothes that keep us in our own gender roles (not cross-dressing) and he allows us to wear cosmetics and jewelry to enhance our appearance. He does not want us to go overboard and the ones from Group #1 will quote 1 Timothy 2:9 .......braided hair, gold, pearls, costly array......and 1 Peter 3:3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but if Paul meant for us to take that literally to not braid our hair at all, or wear gold at all, or wear pearls at all, or wear costly array at all, then Peter backed his stance by saying not to plat the hair at all, not to wear gold at all, and.....get a load of this....NOT TO WEAR APPAREL AT ALL!!!! Now how many hairs do we need to split here. These holy and highly reverenced apostles are not prohibiting the wearing of jewelry or clothes but they are saying that godly women should not get so wrapped up in how we look outwardly that we don't focus on the hidden person of the heart which is where our true value comes from. A true godly woman knows how to dress herself. Jewelry and makeup is referenced as pride by Group #1 but at the same token, their teaching is that Christians should be different and separated from the world but behind all that man-made legalism, they STAND OUT and by standing out it makes them proud because they know they look different from the average person who applies a little make up on pimples or who wears small, stud earrings. Their rules are on the other end of the extremes of complete worldliness and they obligate themselves and hold themselves to certain stipulations that even the word of God does not and that is very prideful in my view. We should let all things be done decently and in order and not to offend our brothers and sisters in Christ. Remember, God does care about how we look and he wants that look to be nice, clean, and as a representation of him, not sloppy, unkempt or uncaring, and not dressing in such a way where we STAND OUT and draw attention to ourselves. And by saying standing out, that can be on either extreme of deliberately wanting people to see you or your group and not the Christ in you.

My Hair Journey

Well I checked my calendar and found out that May 31, 2015 was actually my last relaxer. I thought I had one sooner than that. Oh well, I'm only two months into transitioning but my hair is has lots of new growth. I have always got new growth really fast. I have a YouTube channel but haven't uploaded any transitional videos yet. I'm waiting until it gets a little more course. I do Bantu knots every night and where my hair curly everyday. I tried micro braids for about two weeks then took them out. I wore micro braids so much over the past seven years until I'm just burned out from doing them and wearing them. The Bantu knots are growing on me and it doesn't take that long to do them. They don't hurt my head to sleep in either. I wish I would have discovered this natural thing years ago. I think of all the money I spent on Optimum relaxers, shampoos and conditioners, and other Optimum hair care products only for my permed hair to grow a certain length then break off . I went natural for a while in 2012-2014 but went back to relaxer after getting embarrassed at having nappy hair. That's because I didn't know about all these protective styles then like I do now. Knowledge really is power!! I have heard many testimonials from black women who have gone natural and not everybody is doing it for the same reason. Well my reason has spiritual purposes behind it and I will tell you what it is. I'm not sure how close the United States and the world in general is to experiencing the depression of the global economy but during that time, there won't be any money, time, or resources for getting relaxers. Our world of fashion and fads will shift tremendously. Furthermore, people in the United States who are so quick to judge other people for what they have on will find themselves with limited access to clothing. And women who pride themselves over wearing strictly dresses and skirts will find themselves putting on a pair of female pants just to stay warm in the dead of winter when there are no central heaters. Before Jesus Christ comes back, he is going to strip his Bride (the Church)  of everything that makes her proud and self-sufficient. Many of our co-dependencies will be greatly reduced. What I mean by that is for example, people who feel they can't praise the Lord unless they are in a nice big organized facility with thousands or hundreds of other believers will find themselves worshipping with the true saints in small congregations, in houses, in caves, and even underground. The depression and oppression and persecution from God haters and anti-Christians will force people who really want to stay with the Lord to give up many luxuries. For black Christian women, going natural is the best thing we could ever do for ourselves both physically and spiritually.

IS IT ABOUT YOU OR ABOUT JESUS?

It's a true saying that you catch more flies with honey than you do vinegar. When it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are supposed to be talking about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross and the Holy Spirit that he sent back on the day of Pentecost. Nothing cringes my heart more than to see and hear people pointing out their goodness, holiness(mainly referring to how they dress or don't dress). And how they are so right in the eyes of God. True, saints should look, act, talk, think, dress, and be different from the world, but when you hear more about what a person does or does not do or wear that makes them holy, then I'm afraid they have already missed the mark because they have taken the glory off of Jesus and his righteousness and put it on themselves. There's so much work for the saints (THE REAL SAINTS) to do that we don't have time for self righteousness, hypocrisy, and slothfulness. One deceptive category that many people fall into is that if they present themselves in the manner of other people and other saints and meet all the requirements of the rules and regulations then they are heaven bound and pleasing in God's sight too. Not so!!!! GOD knows what lies in the deep crevices of our hearts that we can hide and cover up from other people. A truly humble child of God would stay at the feet of Jesus almost refusing to look up because he/she knows that they are not worthy of his love, Grace, and forgiveness. But a proud person will boldly look you in the face and proclaim that they know they are holy and going to heaven, not so much because of what Jesus done, but because of what THEY do or don't do . How sad. It's the blood of Jesus that makes us righteous and because we believe and receive his purpose for dying on the cross, we will seek after him and his righteousness, get filled up with his Holy Ghost power to walk as lights shining in dark places of this world. God resists the proud, but gives Grace to the humble!!!

New Age Church Methods

So I've been reading a lot about how to get people to visit your church. My husband and I started a new ministry in November 2014 and since then, there has been several people to come visit. I won't go into any detail about those people or the reasons why they came. But anyway, when I compare to what I've read on the Internet and what the bible says about soul-winning and church attendance and fellowship, the two hardly match up. Many examples in the bible show that people went to the temple after receiving a healing where Jesus met them on the road or talked to them or prayed for them (outside of church). After they received their miracle, they either went to the temple on their own or Jesus sent them to the temple to show themselves to the priest. Many others went about telling other people about Jesus and the miracle he performed for them. In the book of Acts, people remained in fellowship in breaking of bread and prayers after they had received salvation. In other words they stayed in church and witnessed to others to bring them to church also. Those are the biblical accounts of church growth. In today's society, what I see more of today is people or self-promotion instead of Jesus and bringing souls to Christ. Most churches are people-centered instead of Christ-centered with everything that caters to the natural man such as game rooms, tennis or other ball courts, daycare centers, youth centers, and different forms of entertainment. Don't get me wrong, I love everything just mentioned and Lord knows we need daycare and a separate room for children's church for them to be taught on their level instead of the adult level. But the thing I'm seeing is that most churches are targeting people to come to their church based on what the church can provide for their physical needs rather than their spiritual needs. Back when I was coming up, if someone invited somebody to their church, the question was not, "do y'all have an after-school program for my kids? or do y'all have basketball court for me and the fellows to play?" But the question was, "do y'all have a good choir? or do y'all have a fiery anointed preacher who can preach well?" Back then people's mindsets were more geared to how to be uplifted in their souls through the singing or the preaching. It's good when both the physical and spiritual needs are met by the church affiliations, but more and more attention is going toward the physical. And as long as people's physical needs are being met, they remain comfortable in that setting. And they hardly flock to a place where their spiritual needs will be met. Years ago, they legalized gambling in an area of Mississippi and many of the church memberships started piling up in record numbers where pastors agreed that it was okay for saints to gamble. On the other hand, pastors who preached against gambling, calling it out as sin, saw a reduction in their church membership. So just because a church is filled with numbers and numbers of people does not mean that the truth of God's word and the standards of holiness are in operation but people seek teachers and preachers that will allow them room to do what feels good to the flesh and still be able to come to church an enjoy a [false] worship atmosphere. In order for real church growth to take place, there must be standards of right living and teaching from the pastor and the pastor's spouse and flow out to the congregation. Sin cannot be in the camp if God is going to bless that vineyard. Spiritual leaders cannot compromise and allow people to continue living in sin and expect God to smile upon their labor. People might get upset and leave, but at least your job is done and God is pleased. We are supposed to be pleasing God and not man anyway. Small congregations have always been mocked by larger congregations, but if that small congregation is full of the Holy Ghost and power, walking with God, and living a clean, holy sanctified life, then they are richer and fuller than any congregation that is filled with 100's or 1,000's of people who are walking in disobedience to God. One thing about truth, is that it's not popular and when you speak the truth, live the truth, and walk in the truth, neither will you be. But the Holy Spirit makes up for every void and emptiness that you may have in the natural and you will have such a fulfilled life and ministry. In these last and evil days, the saints of the most high God, meaning the very elect, must have a made up mind, to continue on while doing all we can and know to win others and bring them on board. It's not an easy task, but somewhere somebody wants to be saved just like the bible says and be right.

WHAT IS IT ABOUT ME.......?

This is a question that I have not been able to answer in all my 36 years. The question is WHY DO PEOPLE TREAT ME DIFFERENTLY? I've been searching for this answer ever since like Kindergarten when my teacher treated me differently from the other kids. I remember my mother dressing me differently from my sister and I always wondered why. I asked her one time and her answer was "because you're my baby". Well that wasn't good enough to a five-year old at the time. I also remember my grandmother calling me a "special child" and saying things like God has"special" plans for you. That didn't make me very happy because I had other siblings and cousins and she never told this to them. This"special"  treatment caused me to get in a lot of fights and other children hated me and was jealous. The crazy thing is I HATED BEING CALLED SPECIAL OR DIFFERENT!!!! It was definitely not something that I liked , encouraged, or invited. They just did it! I just wanted to live a normal adolescent and teenage life like all the other kids but even other kids and teens treated me differently by excluding me in certain games or conversations. I think that's how my introverted character became so deeply rooted.To make matters worse, on into adulthood,  college instructors would treat me differently from other students. Then after I got born again, pastors treated me differently and demanded that I do not try to be like other saints because God has a "special job" for me in the kingdom. This news was so depressing and the fact that people became jealous, distant and cold. Most folks think I have it altogether but they just don't realize that I'm a marked woman, chosen from my mother's womb and called to a destiny that I can't wiggle my way out of even if I wanted to. If all of these people who have come in contact with me at different times, stages, phases, and ages of my life are all seeing and saying the same thing, then it must be the work of the Lord. The downside is that whatever this "special" thing is, it sticks out like a sore thumb and people who I've never seen before can recognize it and they INSTANTLY treat me.......differently. The different treatment makes me feel hated and envied because of the rejection, eye-rolling, silent treatments, and sometimes people just stare at me like they're trying to figure me out. They need to stop wasting their time because I'm still trying to figure me out LOL!! I had gone into a place of business last month and the individual working the desk  just stared at me with a look I can't explain. I went back in there this month to conduct business again and the same person was working the front desk. It turned out, none of my information was keyed into the system probably because they were so deep in thought when  they should have been typing. I can't understand why some people stare at me and others go all out their way trying to avoid looking at me or speaking.  Only thing I can say is having a special calling does not make me any less human but the reason I lean so close and hard to the spiritual side is because I've never had a whole lot of affection, respect, and welcoming from people on the natural side. Maybe that's God's plan to keep me hedged in until I tap all the way into my destiny. Hopefully, by then what people think, say , or how they treat me won't be so noticeable or matter much at all. It's not about me, but it's all about Jesus!!!

THE GLORY BELONGS TO GOD

I wonder what does Isaiah 53:2-3 mean to some Christians. It says "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not".

 This scripture is referring to Jesus, the savior of our sins, the Lord, one true God manifested in the flesh as the Son of God. Colossians 2:9 says  in him (Jesus) dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily meaning he was fully God in divinity and fully man in humanity. Those who teach a false doctrine that points to trinity signifying three persons will have to answer to God. There is only one true and living God and he is the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the the Holy Ghost as indwelling Spirit. He's one God manifested in three operations or administrations. But Isaiah 53:2-3 stuck out at me because people do not have a clue of what really knowing Jesus and walking with the Lord is all about. They fail to realize that Jesus was not seeking a popularity contest against other rabbis. He was automatically the winner because he was in subjection to the will of God. Anybody who is on the Lord side and fulfills his will is hardly a loser. So why are there so many church folks promoting competition with singing, music, and dance. We will talk about the dancing thing later, but just to scratch the surface, mime teams are not of God but of the devil. The history of pantomime begin centuries ago and was performed in worshipping an idol god. How did this spirit make its way into mostly black churches with the characters having white-painted faces? The first time I saw this in a worship service, it was such a scary feeling in the atmosphere. When I did the research on mime and pantomime then I understood why I felt fear, and fear is not of God but I will talk about this dance stuff in the church later. What I'm trying to get people to see is that the man who they say they know and love was not trying to be seen or paid like majority of church performers who sing, preach, play  instruments, etc. Yes, I play keyboard and have played for different churches and got paid . There's nothing wrong with that especially when it's a source of income but when it goes to extreme demands that a person won't even show up for service unless they are getting money up front and they leave as soon as the worship part of service is over and won't hear the word, then they're prostituting their gift instead of using it for the glory of God. The scriptures tell us that Jesus was not desirable looking meaning he didn't try to be noticed neither was he seductive. Speaking of seductive, this spirit has no boundaries but tries to seduce both the male and female gender. That's why it's important for Christian men and women to keep doors closed where Satan tries to creep in and take over. I will come back later but we must understand that if we're going to be like Jesus then we can't compete with the world in fashion, music, ministry, or business. That might sound impossible but with God all things are possible.

The Wave of Vain Glory

Well I must start this blog off by saying that my husband had to have his laptop serviced and the technician cleaned out everything so there went my Power Point presentation on the nine gifts of the Spirit. I will conjure up another soon. I just finished my finals this week in CJA/384 so my weekend is gone and I won't be starting a new power point tonight. However, the thing that I did want to talk about is the wave of vain glory that I'm seeing more and more of lately. The question is, what is vain glory? Vain glory is what Apostle Paul mentions in Galatians 5:26 that says "Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another". This is the very thing that is taking place where people, especially those in leadership, are seeking approval, promotion, and praise from man and tooting their own horn for works done in the church or for the kingdom of God. This kind of behavior goes against Proverbs 27:2-Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth; a stranger and not thine own lips. The same principle applies when pastors or other ministerial authoritative figures make some type of pact with the congregation to say Amen only when"they" are speaking but they are not allowed to say Amen to another minister. I've seen it where members who visit another assembly with their pastors literally look at the pastor for the signal of when to say Amen and when not to during another preacher's message. It's like they have made themselves a little god and the people esteem in higher honor and recognition than God himself. This, my friend, is nothing short of idolatry. Other forms of vain glory is this religious hype that many Christians are caught up in. What I mean by religious hype is that certain Christians only attend certain services or certain parts of a service. For instance, they pack out the church during the song and praise part of the service, but leave before the sermon or do not attend Sunday School or bible study. They only want the entertainment from the music and singers singing songs with a worldly hip hop beat but just added gospel lyrics to it. Why is this vain glory? Because there is no real glory being given to God because the flesh is not coming under subjection to the Word but it's only a tickling of the ears and plays on people's emotionalism through music and songs that sound good and makes the flesh feel good. Another type of vain glory is that Christians only want to hear certain preachers or gospel artists, usually those with big titles, big congregations, big followings, big money,etc. But they don't even pay attention to leaders who are not in the spotlight with such notoriety. People want to"feel big", so they attach themselves to ministers who act, look, and talk big. There's nothing wrong with being open minded and thinking big rather than thinking small, but the vain glory stems from the person wanting more and more attention and recognition and money for what they do in church or just for the kingdom of God. This attitude and behavior is against the example that Jesus left when after he healed someone or cast out evil spirits from them, he told them"not to tell anyone". The people who were healed and delivered took it upon themselves to testify of the miracles that Jesus wrought in their life but Jesus himself didn't go around broadcasting what he did. Now days if you go to just about any minister's profile on social media, they have a page full of stories about what"I" did or how the Lord used "me". What they're really doing is speaking for the works instead of letting the works speak for them. Another thing is people who get blessed by the Word constantly giving the credit (or glory) to the man or woman of God. There's nothing wrong with letting someone know how they touched your heart through their ministry but when they make it a repetitious habit of pointing out the person and not the Lord who enabled the person then it's vain glory. Another form of vain glory is when people get about 12 members in their congregation and start bragging about how many folks they got. This temptation attacks small ministries just as much as large and mega ministries. Churches get in competition over who has the most members. You see videos that people have posted turning the camera to show how many people are in the sanctuary. The problem with this is that they will not even shoot a video if there's only a few people in attendance because they want to look.....Big.....there's that word again. It's all for vain glory though. When statements are made like: How many people showed up or Did they have a good turn out? Then that tells you that people love crowds even if what they are in isn't the real deal. To be honest, the real deal folks who are living holy, sacrificing their time to the Lord in prayer and fasting, and seeking the things that are above and not on the earth, do not have a whole lot of people following them. But the fake ones do because they have found ways to compromise and give people what they want at a lesser cost than what is really required in the Word of God. That's why true, Holiness Apostolic Pentecostal churches do not find a platform in other denominations because we preach too tough on sin and the true plan of salvation. However, there are many people who started out as original Apostolics but have gotten caught up in this wave of vain glory and are now in it just for the money and glamour. But we who have the Spirit and discernment are not fooled. We know they have been deceived and their level of comfort in the church has become their heaven on earth. God has had me in training against the spirit of vain glory all my life and because of that I have NEVER been in the pools of popularity but rather have more people vote against me because they know my motives are pure and I don't do what I do to the seen, recognized, receive money, or trying to get.....Big......that's the Word. My main mission is for men, women, boys, and girls to get to know Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins, repenting of their sins, having their sins washed away through water baptism in Jesus name and receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues and living holy before God daily. Therefore, I have no room for vain glory because the majority already do not want to hear my message but I know God got somebody who will hear, believe, receive, and obey the Word of truth and it's not for my glory but all for the glory of God!!!!

Gift of Discernment of Spirits

The third revelation gift is the gift of discernment where God allows the believer to be able to differentiate between which spirit in operation is of the Holy Spirit, of an evil spirit, or of the human spirit (the flesh). This gift can be underused or overused when the detection of spirits are incorrect. For example, mistakes can be made when a person who is operating out of their human spirit (flesh) is being accused or treated like someone who is possessed with demons. Another error is passively allowing someone who is truly possessed with an evil spirit to be welcomed and treated as though they are operating in the Holy Spirit because others like the rush or energy that is coming from the person. The Holy Spirit helps the believer rightly divide between spirits and make the proper judgment call and lead them how to deal with the situation. If it's the Holy Spirit in operation, then the fruits of the Spirit will follow and the fruits are found in Galatians 5:22-23. The gift of discernment is not for the believer who has the gift to find fault in others and judge them to condemnation, but it is to show where the person is spiritually and provide the necessary tools for warfare. Whatever spirit is in operation, the fruits will manifest without a doubt. If it is an evil spirit, then evil will be the result of the actions taken and the words spoken by the person. Evil spirits must be cast out and the individual's spirit must be salvaged and led to the way of following Christ, but they have to make that choice because God gives everyone a free will. If it is the flesh or human spirit in operation, then the individual has a window of grace for repentance if something is said or done that is out of the will of God. Furthermore, the gift of discernment allows the believer to discern or tell the difference between true and false prophets by testing the words of their teachings. True prophets and teachers provide God's truth, speaks by God's authority, and the words line up with God's word. False prophets and teachers speak with deceptive language and enticing words (usually in the field to con people out of their money or for sexual favors or both), and do not speak with God's authority, and their words do not totally line up with God's word but a false teacher/prophet may talk in circles with things that are mixed with both good and evil (just like at the beginning in the garden of Eden). A believer who has the gift of discernment might not have his or her bible right there in front of them, but when a false prophet/teacher begins to talk, the Holy Spirit prompts him or her when to put the brakes on and not listen any further to what's being said because the false prophet/teacher is operating in another spirit that is contrary to the Holy Spirit. There are many many many many teachings out there and people are entitled to believe whatever they want to believe, but only those who are seeking truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth will guard themselves from lying spirits, false doctrines, and carnality in the world. The gift of discernment carries a lot of weight that can help Spirit-filled believers steer clear of many pitfalls and spiritual dangers.